Movie review – “Mark of the Vampire” (1935) **

Bela Lugosi and Todd Browning reunited for another vampire tell, with a decent budget and strong cast (Lionel Barrymore is an imposing if hammy Van Helsing, Lionel Atwill, Jean Hersholt). At first this starts off fine: suspicious villagers, a dead body, talk of vampires, Donald Meek providing some decent comic relief. Browning uses the camera here a lot better than in Dracula and when you see Lugosi going on the rampage with sexy goth Carroll Borland you think “this is going to be great”. But it gets bogged down and becomes progressively less interesting. At the end there is this climax where they are trying to get the killer to reveal he did it – but who cares? No one’s at stake, they know who the killer is, the killer is hypnotised so the girl isn’t in any danger. Yawn, snore. Then of course there is the revelation they’re not vampires. You know, there is a moment at the end when Lugosi and Borland are laughing about the roles they’ve played and Lugosi says something egotistical and its funny – and you think “that would have made a better movie – telling it from Lugosi’s POV as an actor playing a vampire.” The actor who plays the male juvenile is atrocious.